Kaif (111) stars in India’s winColombo, September 14
Young Mohammed Kaif struck his maiden century as India recover ed from a poor start to beat Zimbabwe by 14 runs in a group-two match of the ICC Champions Trophy here tonight.

Mohammad Kaif reacts after completing his century during the match against Zimbabwe in Colombo on Saturday.
— Reuters photo

Chetan Sharma writes
India lucky to remain in raceIndia were lucky to remain in contention for a place in the semifinal after their nail-biting win over Zimbabwe but the victory should not pull the wool over their eyes. There are a few areas they will have to work if they are to pose a serious threat to others in the Champions Trophy.

Sahara pulls out of sponsorship dealMumbai, September 14Sahara India Parivar has withdrawn sponsorship of the Indian cricket team after the International Cricket Council (ICC) today objected to a design element in the ‘Subrata’ logo, which was to be sported by the team players in place of the original ‘Sahara’ logo.

Pre-match comments: Stephen Fleming
Australia are always a champion side in cricketWhile it does feel good to come into the tournament as defending champions, the New Zealand team is more focussed on the task at hand. Two years is a long time and it would be foolish to rest on the memories of our victory in Nairobi. Instead, we would like to view this cup as a one-off tournament that we will go all out to win.

India to bid for 2010 Commonwealth GamesPatiala, September 14The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) secretary-general, Mr Randhir Singh, expressed optimism that India would win at least 50 medals, an improvement of 15 medals from the 1998 Bangkok Asiad, in the forthcoming Busan Asian Games.

Lack of video cassettes hits team’s trainingPatiala, September 14Preparation of the Indian women’s hockey team has been badly hit as it has still to receive the video cassettes of teams that will compete against them in the Busan Asiad.

Tim Montgomery beats Maurice Greene's 100 m world record by one-hundredth of a second.
Tim Montgomery of the USA celebrates a new world record in the 100 metres at the Grand Prix final at the Stade Charlety, in Paris,
on Saturday. Montgomery won the race in a time of 9.78 seconds.
— Reuters

Faridkot, Jalandhar in semisLudhiana, September 14Holders Faridkot and last year’s runners-up Kapurthala along with Jalandhar and Bathinda in the girls section and current champions, Bathinda and last year’s losing finalists Gurdaspur along with Ludhiana and Kapurthala in the boys section secured their berths in the semifinal league of the third Punjab State Youth Basketball Championship being held at the indoor hall of Guru Nanak Sports Complex here today. In the quarter-finals (boy’s section), reigning champions Bathinda dictated terms throughout the match and scored an emphatic victory over Fardikot 73-44 while Gurdaspur proved too good for Jalandhar whom they defeated 45-16.

Panchkula score 34-run winChandigarh, September 14Hosts Panchkula proved superiority over Chandigarh registering victory by 34 runs in the opening match of Haryana State Inter-District (Under 19) Cricket Tournament at cricket ground, Sector 5, Panchkula today. The match was reduced to 25 overs a side as it started two hours late than the scheduled time, due to overnight rain.

Narrow win for
Punjab PoliceMandi, September 14On the third day of the All-India Independence Gold Cup Hockey Tournament today, the first match played here in Paddal Stadium between Namdhari XI and HP Green ended in a draw.

Football coach
dies in road
mishapJalandhar, September 14The mortal remains of the veteran football coach and vice-president of the District Football Association, Jalandhar, Mr Sarwan Singh Dhami, who died in a road accident at Khurdpur village near Adampur last night, were consigned to flames at Adampur today.

Kournikova one victory away
from title
Shanghai, September 14Russia’s Anna Kournikova battled to victory in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Open today, defeating Japan’s Ai Sugiyama 6-4 7-5 to be just one win away from her first ever WTA singles title.

Top-seed Anna Smashnova of Israel returns a shot during her semifinal match against Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia at the SVW Polo
Open in Shanghai
on Saturday. Smashnova won 6-1, 6-1 and will meet Russian star Anna
Kournikova in the finals on Sunday.
— Reuters photo

Krishnan, Bhupathi
opt out as captainsNew Delhi, September 14In a sudden and surprising development Ramesh Krishnan and C.G.K. Bhuptahi have opted out as captains of men’s and women’s tennis teams, respectively, for the forthcoming Busan Asian Games starting from September 29.

Colombo, September 14
Young Mohammed Kaif struck his maiden century as India recover ed from a poor start to beat Zimbabwe by 14 runs in a group-two match of the ICC Champions Trophy here tonight.

After posting a challenging total of 288 thanks to a superlative century by Kaif and a valuable knock of 71 by Rahul Dravid, India restricted Zimbabwe to 274 for eight in 50 overs. Earlier, paceman Douglas Hondo sent alarm signals with a four-wicket blitz but India, from a perilous 87 for five in the 14th over, came back strongly to pile up 288 for six in 50 overs, thanks largely to Kaif’s undefeated 111, his first one-day hundred and his fighting sixth-wicket partnership with in-form Rahul Dravid (71).

Later Kaif, who struck eight fours and a six in his nearly run-a-ball knock, and leg spinner Anil kumble added an invalubale 56 runs in the last five overs for the seventh wicket to place India in a position of strength, hammering Hondo for 17 runs in the last two overs.

The experience of Dravid and the youthful exuberance of Kaif revived India’s fortunes as Hondo cleaned up the top order in a lively opening spell reminiscence of the one he bowled in Kochi in his debut match in March last.

Douglas Hondo, who picked four for 37 in that match, once again proved to be the nemesis as he rocked the much vaunted Indian batting bagging four wickets in his first spell, including two in an over, to reduce India to 87 for five inside the first 15 overs.

Young medium pacer 19-year-old Sean Ervine, who took a superb low catch down to the left at second slip to dismiss Yuveraj, chipped in by getting rid of dangerous Sehwag, who was threatening to tear apart the attack.

Hondo picked wickets in his second, fifth and seventh overs as his first spell, though expensive, read 7-1-45-4.

In fact all the five batsmen had fallen victim to catches behind the stumps, with Alistair Campbell having a hand in first three dismissals in the slip cordon and wicket-keeper Andy Flower taking the other.

Ganguly and Sehwag started with the usual flourish whacking the bowlers all over the ground as India raced to 25 in the first three overs, with most of the runs coming in boundaries.

Ganguly, who started with a boundary of the first ball of his Zimbabwe counterpart Heath Streak, edging past the slip cordon, picked two more in the next over of Hondo with exquisite cover drives.

India were lucky to remain in contention for a place in the semifinal after their nail-biting win over Zimbabwe but the victory should not pull the wool over their eyes. There are a few areas they will have to work if they are to pose a serious threat to others in the Champions Trophy.

The Indians can be excused for the fact that they were coming into the tournament directly after a hectic summer in England but they did blunder in both the batting and bowling departments. Even their fielding at times wasn’t of the standards they have set themselves these days. All in all, India have to raise their game for the following matches.

Andy Flower was the tragic hero today as he finished on the losing side even after he himself scored close to 150 runs in the match! Well, that is the way life treats you sometimes but for now let us settle the debate as to who the Indian hero was. Without a doubt it was Mohammad Kaif, and but for his maiden century India would not have scored a big total of 288.

Kaif reaffirmed the belief that he is one for the future. In two of his last innings, he has helped India win the match without being dismissed even once. For those who thought his batting in the NatWest trophy was a fluke, Kaif showed that he could do one better today.

With Rahul Dravid, another of India’s dependable stars, Kaif rescued the Indian innings when half the side was back in the dressing room with not even 100 runs on the board. I was so happy to see both remain calm even in the face of a crisis and though Dravid got run out with a century within his reach, Kaif did not miss the opportunity. He would remember this innings of his for a long time, so will supporters of the Indian team like me.

The Indian bowling was a let down as they were struggling to defend such a big total. Zaheer Khan was the pick of the bowlers while Sachin Tendulkar was superb in the last overs.

India have a rest of eight days before they play their next match against England. I would be joking if I say they don’t need a rest. Rather they badly need to recharge their batteries in the rest period so that when they come out next, they play like true champions.

Mumbai, September 14
Sahara India Parivar has withdrawn sponsorship of the Indian cricket team after the International Cricket Council (ICC) today objected to a design element in the ‘Subrata’ logo, which was to be sported by the team players in place of the original ‘Sahara’ logo.

According to a statement released here this evening by Chairman of the Sahara Group Subrata Roy, the ICC had refused to allow the use of the saffron and green colour brush strokes (Indian national colours), incidentally an integral part of Sahara’s logo, when the Indian team was about to take the field against Zimbabwe in Colombo today.

A marathon meeting in Mumbai lasting more than five hours between the top officials of the group was then held. After evaluating all the aspects of the logo controversy, the company had decided to pull out of the sponsorship deal with the Indian cricket team, sources said.

Sahara India Parivar, in its statement, said that the “unreasonable, irrational and inoffensive condition” (of not allowing the use of the Indian national colours), was totally against national pride and Sahara’s philosophy and values, and it had forced the company to withdraw from the sponsorship of the ‘Indian Cricket Team’.”

Meanwhile, Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) Secretary Niranjan Shah told UNI from Rajkot that he had still not received any official communication from the Sahara India Parivar, therefore he could not comment on their decision.

The Sahara India Parivar has decided to take necessary steps to “protect national pride” and will also initiate appropriate legal proceedings against all concerned.

The company statement further said that in a show of ‘emotional’ support to the Indian cricketers, the group had decided to go ahead and ‘compensate’ the players for this tournament by directly giving them their share of revenue instead of to the BCCI, though after having pulled out, the group was not obliged to do so.

Sanjay Lal, CEO, Percept Pofile, the PR agency in-charge of all media-related activities for Sahara India, said the contract
between Sahara and the board would have expired in July 2004. “With our decision to compensate the players, the company has given the Indian cricket board enough time to find a new sponsors,” he added.

Sahara India Parivar had come forward to sponsor the Indian team after the BCCI had to pull out of its sponsorship deal with Wills in 1999, following a government ban on sponsorship by tobacco companies.

Sahara had decided to change the original logo to that of ‘Subrata’ after the ICC had first objected on the grounds that the original logo clashed with the interests of South African Airlines, one of the official sponsors of the on-going Champions Trophy.

The ICC, however, at the last minute, had also objected to the changed logo, which left the Sahara India Parivar with no other choice but to pull out of the contract with the Indian cricket board.

The change of the original logo was necessitated because the ICC contract debarred anybody from using any logo which was in direct competition with an official sponsor of the ICC (in this case South African Airways).

This had erupted into a major controversy with the Indian players refusing to sign the contract because it would have affected their earlier deals with other sponsors. At the end, the ICC had to climb down and dilute certain clauses which paved the way for the senior Indian players to participate in the tournament.

In a related development, the ICC in a statement from Colombo put the onus of the Indian team not sporting any logo in today’s match squarely on the BCCI, saying that it was the Indian board which had advised the players not to sport any logo of their commercial sponsors.

“The BCCI told the ICC that the Indian cricket team will play today’s match against Zimbabwe at the Premadasa Stadium, with their shirts bearing no commercial sponsor logo,” the statement said.

It said the ICC had previously approved the use of the name ‘Subrata’ as the Indian team sponsor for the ICC Champions Trophy.
UNI

Colombo, September 14
The logo controversy involving the International Cricket Council (ICC) and the BCCI took a turn for the worse with the Indian team taking the ground today without sporting any logo on their shirts in the ongoing ICC Champions Trophy Tournament.

“We have got a new set of dresses for the players this morning without the logo of the team sponsors Sahara Airlines,” a visibly upset team manager Ramprasad said, minutes before the team left the hotel for its opening group-2 day/night match against Zimbabwe at the Premadasa Stadium.

“We asked for a new set of dresses and we got them this morning”, he added.

Since the ICC objected to sporting of “Sahara” logo as it directly conflicts with its official sponsors South Afircan Airways, the Indian team sponsors as an alternative suggested wearing the name of “Subrata”, Managing Director of Sahara, to which the sport’s governing body gave its assent subject to the deletion of the graphics depicting “wings” in the logo which was displayed in national tricolours.
UNI

While it does feel good to come into the tournament as defending champions, the New Zealand team is more focussed on the task at hand. Two years is a long time and it would be foolish to rest on the memories of our victory in Nairobi. Instead, we would like to view this cup as a one-off tournament that we will go all out to win.

While groups have been introduced into the format of the tournament, it still remains pretty much a knock-out tournament. Each group other than India’s has two established Test sides and a new entrant. Therefore, the match between the Test sides is the crunch tie. There are of course dangers in viewing the situation like this because you can focus too much on one game and become complacent against the less fancied side. Which is why I’m happy with our itinerary, which gives us a full week between our games against Australia and Bangladesh.

There are some changes in the New Zealand side since we won the ICC Trophy in 2000, the most significant one being the absence of Chris Cairns. You are always going to miss a player of that caliber, and the fact that he is an all-rounder makes it that much more difficult to find an adequate replacement. Cairns’ presence in the team gave it the right balance and he will always be a key member of our side. Fortunately he is recovering well and will be available for the all-important World Cup. Moreover, during his absence, we have groomed players like Jacob Oram and Scott Styris, both of whom have made pretty decent contributions for the Black Caps.

As we prepare for tomorrow’s game we are well aware that the Australians are always going to be a champion side. We acknowledge that we ran them close in the Test and one-day series in Australia earlier this year, but that could mean that they have identified and rectified out the weak links that we exploited. The Australians are a tough lot and they will come hard at us, it’s now up to us to ensure we maintain the standards we set ourselves in Australia. Besides hoping that the strategies that worked in Australia will work here we’ll also have to focus on new areas in order to win our match against them.

The heat could have a bearing on the game since we are coming out of the New Zealand winter. We did stay in Australia for a week and were one of the first teams to land in Sri Lanka, so the team is pretty acclimatized. Australia on the other hand have just got in from a tournament in Kenya, so they must be used to the heat.

The beauty of this tournament is that you have to win only four games to be champions. If a couple of players hit a good run of form that often is enough to see a team right through.

A fair bit of cricket has already been played in the tournament and from the evidence so far, Sri Lanka look the side to beat. They convincingly defeated a strong
Pakistani line-up and the form they showed proved that they will be pretty difficult to beat in their own backyard. It’s great to see the full Indian team make it to Sri Lanka. A showpiece event like this is best enjoyed when the top players in the world are on show.
Gameplan

Patiala, September 14
The Indian Olympic Association (IOA) secretary-general, Mr Randhir Singh, expressed optimism that India would win at least 50 medals, an improvement of 15 medals from the 1998 Bangkok Asiad, in the forthcoming Busan Asian Games.

Mr Randhir Singh, who is also the Secretary-General of the Olympic Council of Asia (OCA), asserted that this figure had been arrived at after various national sports federations had sent their medal assessments to the IOA.

Mr Randhir Singh was addressing a press conference at the NIS here after holding a meeting with the chief coaches of various squads who are attending national camps at the NIS in preparation for the Busan Asiad.

The IOA secretary-general asserted that India would bid for the 2010 Commonwealth Games which, if
allotted to India, would be held at New Delhi. He added that the other bidders were Singapore and Canada. Mr Randhir Singh was candid enough to admit that India’s bid to hold the 2006 Asian games was flawed which led the OCA to hold the games in the gulf country of Doha.

Mr Randhir Singh added that the SAI lab at New Delhi would be accredited before the Afro-Asian Games at New Delhi from October 24 to November 1.

He said that the Kingra committee report would be released shortly.

The one-man Kingra committee was set up by former sports minister Uma Bharti after prohibited drugs were found from hostels at the NIS.

Patiala, September 14
Preparation of the Indian women’s hockey team has been badly hit as it has still to receive the video cassettes of teams that will compete against them in the Busan Asiad.

The Indians will be taking on Korea, Japan and China in the four team round robin league at Busan. Ever since China created a sensation in world hockey by annexing the title in the recent Champions Trophy at Macau by beating Argentina in the final, chief coach G.S Bhangu is a worried man. Mr Bhangu disclosed that he had requested the Director General of the SAI and the Indian Women Hockey Federation (IWHF) to provide him video cassettes of the matches the Chinese team played during the Macau Champions Trophy. However, till yet nothing concrete has materialised. The only video clippings available with the IWHF are those pertaining to matches played in the 1998 Utretch World Cup. However, these cassettes, asserts Mr Bhangu, are of little help as the composition of the squads has drastically changed with old
playing way for new ones.

Mr Bhangu had requested the then Sports Minister Ms Uma Bharti to use her offices to make available video clippings but again nothing materialised. The team management had also requested the Sports Ministry to provide them videos of a tournament played in Figo (Japan) recently where all the three teams- Korea, China and Japan- took part but again nothing has been done. Interestingly, when the Indian’s played at the Manchester Commonwealth Games, each and every match of the team was video filmed by the cameramen sent by the hockey federations of Korea, China and Japan.

Ludhiana, September 14
Holders Faridkot and last year’s runners-up Kapurthala along with Jalandhar and Bathinda in the girls section and current champions, Bathinda and last year’s losing finalists Gurdaspur along with Ludhiana and Kapurthala in the boys section secured their berths in the semifinal league of the third Punjab State Youth Basketball Championship being held at the indoor hall of Guru Nanak Sports Complex here today. In the quarter-finals (boy’s section), reigning champions Bathinda dictated terms throughout the match and scored an emphatic victory over Fardikot 73-44 while Gurdaspur proved too good for Jalandhar whom they defeated 45-16.

The third quarter-final between Ludhiana and Amritsar turned out to be an absorbing affair with both the teams trying to establish their supremacy. Two tall players, Jagdeep (6 feet 6 inches) of Ludhiana and Yadwinder Singh (6 feet 5 inches) of Amritsar selected recently by the Punjab Basketball Association under its special scheme ‘talent development plan’, played their hearts out. Though,
initially Amritsar boys enjoyed the lead (21-13) the local lads reorganised themselves and at the end of the second quarter, they established a one-point lead (37-36) and went on to wrap up the issue 85-67.

For Ludhiana, the main architects of their hard-fought win were Jagdeep and Vijay Kumar who contributed 27 and 33 points, respectively, while Paramveer scored 12 points. Yadwinder Singh top scored for Amritsar with 19 points, followed by Gurpreet and Randeep who made 18 and 10 points respectively. In the fourth quarter-final, Kapurthala overpowered Muktsar 60-48.

In the girl’s section, holders Fardikot faced stiff challenge from Gurdaspur before emerging victorious 61-55 and Jalandhar outclassed Ludhiana 29-10. In other quarter finals, Kapurthala girls outplayed Muktsar 33-19 while Bathinda scored an upset victory 48-35 over Amritsar. For Bathinda, the tall Princy Dhaliwal made her presence felt by scoring as many as 24 points out of her team’s total 48.

Chandigarh, September 14
Hosts Panchkula proved superiority over Chandigarh registering victory by 34 runs in the opening match of Haryana State Inter-District (Under 19) Cricket Tournament at cricket ground, Sector 5, Panchkula today. The match was reduced to 25 overs a side as it started two hours late than the scheduled time, due to overnight rain.

After winning the toss, Chandigarh invited Panchkula to bat first, who started on a bad note losing Sunny Sharma in the first over. Thereafter, Vishal Sahni and Manav consolidated the innings and crossed the 50-runs mark in just 9 overs.

At the score of 58 Manav departed caught brilliantly behind the wicket by Surjit off Manjit Singh at the individual score of 26.

Vishal Sahni played a responsible innings of 62 runs while the wickets kept on falling at the other end, His knock included 5 boundaries and one huge six. Vivek Walia chipped in with 14 runs and the innings folded at 135 in the allotted 25 overs match. Mandeep was the most successful bowler who claimed 4 wickets conceding 19 runs.

Chasing a total of 136 to win, Chandigarh batsmen started slowly but steadily through Sunil Kumar and Harpreet as they registered opening-wicket partnership of 49 runs in the 11th over. First break-through came with the introduction of dual spin attack consisting of Mayur Sharma and skipper Umesh Kaira. Chandigarh batsmen found going tough against leg-spin bowling of Mayur Sharma, who took 2 wickets while conceding just 18 runs in his 5 overs. Umesh Kaira and Vivek Walia also chipped in with two wickets apiece as only Sunil Kumar (15), Harpreet (23) and Tejwinder Gill (17) could reach the double figure mark.

Chandigarh could score 101 runs in 23 overs, falling short by 34 runs.

The next match will be played between Panchkula and winner of Kurukshetra and Ambala match tomorrow.

Mandi, September 14
On the third day of the All-India Independence Gold Cup Hockey Tournament today, the first match played here in Paddal Stadium between Namdhari XI and HP Green ended in a draw. Both the teams played good hockey and in the 16th minute Sunny of HP Green moved into the striking circle to give his team the lead. In the 33rd minute Gurcharan Singh scored for the Namdhari XI.

In the second match, Punjab Police beat Punjab and Sind Bank Academy. In the 11th minute Kulbir Singh of Punjab Police scored a beautiful goal. The match ended in favour of Punjab Police. The third match of the day played between C.I.S.F. and Northern Railway ended in a goal-less draw. Both the teams missed some golden opportunities.

In the opening match of the women’s section, Khalsa College beat HMV College, Jalandhar, 2-1. In the sixth minute, Khalsa College entered the striking circle and Manprit Kaur scored a beautiful field goal. In the 27th minute Khalsa College earned a penalty corner and again Manprit Kaur struck making it 2-0. At half time the score was 2-0.

In the second half both the teams tried hard to overcome the pressure. Eventually, Khalsa College girls managed a 2-1 victory. Earlier during the day Rajya Sabha member Anil Sharma inaugurated the women’s competition.

Jalandhar, September 14
The mortal remains of the veteran football coach and vice-president of the District Football Association, Jalandhar, Mr Sarwan Singh Dhami, who died in a road accident at Khurdpur village near Adampur last night, were consigned to flames at Adampur today.

Mr Dhami (60), who had retired as football coach from Guru Nanak National College, Narur Panshta two years ago, died on the spot when his car was hit by an oil tanker. He had recently launched a football academy for budding players at Baddo village in Hoshiarpur with the help of his NRI brother, where the selected players were provided free kit and diet.

Among those who attended the funeral were Arjuna awardee Gurdev Singh, president of the
DFA, Mr Inderjit Singh, and Dr S.P.S. Virk.

Shanghai, September 14
Russia’s Anna Kournikova battled to victory in the semi-finals of the Shanghai Open today, defeating Japan’s Ai Sugiyama 6-4 7-5 to be just one win away from her first ever WTA singles title.

Fourth-seeded Kournikova’s win set her up for a final tomorrow against top-seeded Anna Smashnova of Israel in the 140,000 $ tournament. Smashnova, the world number 18, made quick work of tournament seventh seed Angelique Widjaja of Indonesia powering to a 6-1 6-1 win.
AFP

New Delhi, September 14
In a sudden and surprising development Ramesh Krishnan and C.G.K. Bhuptahi have opted out as captains of men’s and women’s tennis teams, respectively, for the forthcoming Busan Asian Games starting from September 29.

All-India Tennis Federation (AITA) secretary Anil Khanna today said that Anand Amritraj and Enrico Piperno will replace Ramesh and Bhupathi as captains of the men’s and women’s teams, respectively for the Games. Krishnan and Bhupathi made themselves unavailable for the Busan Games citing personal reasons.
UNI

SPORTS BRIEFS

CRICKET
BOARD TO PAY STANDBY TEAM
MUMBAI: Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) has decided to present a cheque of Rs 2 lakh to all the probables, who were picked for the second string team for ICC Champions Trophy. A BCCI spokesperson said everyone who had signed the contract for the tournament will be given the money. The BCCI had chosen a stand-by team for the Champions Trophy, under Robin Singh, after the main players got into a controversy with the International Cricket Council over the issue of sponsorship logos, and refused to sign the contract to wear logos of brands other than those they endorse.
UNI

GREENE
UNFAZED
PARIS: World and Olympic 100m champion Maurice Greene derided his critics here today saying that despite six defeats this season he had much to be happy with. The 28-year-old world record holder, who pulled out of the Grand Prix finals here Saturday, said he was far from the athlete being labelled ‘Slow Mo’ by some pundits. He pointed out he still had the fastest time this year of 9.89sec and had won more Golden League events than his main rivals, compatriot Tim Montgomery and Great Britain’s European champion Dwain Chambers. “Everyone said my season was a disaster,” said the self-styled Kansas Comet.
AFP

ASHISH
WINS
NEW DELHI: Ashish Himmat Singh beat Commonwealth gold medallist S.A. Hameed to clinch the title in the ColorPlus National Bowling Championship qualifiers here on Saturday. Scoring at an average of 99.66 per game, Singh totalled 1196 in six games to beat Hameed by a margin of 40. Bowling at a blistering pace, Singh notched up 189 in the first game and finished with 255 in the final game. With Singh topping the charts and Hameed second, other major qualifiers were Pummy, 1999 national bowling champion Harshvardhan Sarda, last year’s runner up Mohan Lal and defending champion Samir Jain.
PTI

VILAS
MENON DEAD
MUMBAI: Former table tennis international Vilas Menon, who had suffered a paralytic stroke a couple of years ago, passed away here last night, family sources said. Menon (44), an attacking player of the 70s, and known for his back hand flicks, was the youngest state Champion and had won the Fair Play Trophy in the 1975 World championships. Menon, who was settled in the Gulf after his retirement, came to India and worked for Punwire in Chandigarh. He came to Mumbai but struggled with failing health thereafter. Menon leaves behind his wife, a son and a daughter.
PTI